Raising a child with a same-sex spouse, living with gay parents, and the struggles that queer youth and adults face on a daily basis are among the topics of the Queer Studies Lecture Series at Sonoma State University in the spring semester.
Lectures are held at noon on Tuesdays from Feb. 6-May 8 in Stevenson 1002.
The schedule for the spring semester includes:
Feb. 6: "Become The Change You Want To See In The World" - Steven Cozza, a youth activist and founder of Scouting for All discusses discrimination of gay youth and adults in the Boy Scouts of America.
Feb. 13: "Christine And The Cutting Room: Transsexual Celebrity Christine Jorgensen's Cinematic Sense Of Self " - Susan Stryker discusses how American ex-GI and filmmaker Christine Jorgensen's sex change surgery affected her relationship with the camera and recounts how Jorgensen moved from one sort of "cutting room"
to another.
Feb. 20: "Queer And Colored" - Daisy Hernandez discusses the reporting, writing and editing behind the stories of ColorLines, a national newsmagazine on race and politics, which regularly features stories on issues from queer communities of color.
Feb. 27: "California's Domestic Partnership Law, Or, Are We Ready For Same-Sex Marriage?" - Frederick Hertz summarizes the background of marital "status" law, as compared to the "contract" law previously controlling the lives of unmarried couples and explains the emergence of marriage-like systems for gay couples, especially California's domestic partnership law.
Mar. 6: "Vampires, Feminism And Our Future" - Jewelle Gomez discusses how culture shapes politics and explains what mass entertainment says about the lesbian-bisexual-gay and trans-gendered community and social justice.
Mar. 13: "Queer Memoir And Autobiography" - Author and co-founder of the Sister Spit spoken word tour, Michelle Tea, reads from one of her memoirs and speak about the relationship between queer memoir and autobiography.
Mar. 27: "Daddy And Papa: Gay Fathers And The Changing Landscape Of The American Family" - Johnny Symons discusses the making and distribution of the film Daddy and Papa, explores the ways in which gay families navigate through schools, neighborhoods, and extended families, and dwells on his own experiences as a gay parent.
Apr. 3: "Lifting The Mask: The Daughters Of Bilitis, "The Ladder," And The Conscious Normalization Of Lesbian Images In 1950s And 1960s America" - Marcia Gallo explores the ways in which the leaders of the Daughters of Bilitis consciously reconstructed media images of lesbians in order to normalize them.
Apr. 17:" The Hard Evidence Of Existence: Creating Black Gay Arts In Down Low Times" - Cedric Brown discusses the challenges of creating work that reflects the experiences of Black gay men during an era when a public identity as a gay man of color is too often shunned. Brown will present a brief retrospective of his influences and the rich artistic history of Black gay art and performance born in the Bay Area.
Apr. 24: "In My Shoes: Stories Of Youth With LGBT Parents" - A panel of young adults who have LGBT parents discuss their experiences and view the documentary of the same name.
May 1: Consolidating The Gendered Citizen: Trans Survival, Bureaucratic Power, And The War On Terror - Dean Spade discusses the impact of the War on Terror on transgender rights, the bureaucratization of trans identities, and models of non-profit governance in social movements.
May 8: "From Parents In Hiding To The Lesbian Baby Boom: A History Of Lesbian Motherhood 1945-1980" - Daniel Winunwe Rivers discusses the changing social, political, and legal realities of lesbian motherhood from the Second World War to the beginning of the 1980s.
Admission to the events are free, however campus parking is $2.50. For more information, contact the Women and Gender Studies Department at (707) 664-2306.
